Soap dish



L.- MORRIS 3,054,212

Sept. 18, 1962 SOAP DISH Filed March 24, 1961 i'mmvrok." Znme/Iflmw 7 BY I United States Patet 3,054,212 SOAP DISH Lester Morris, Westbury, N .Y. Filed Mar. 24, 1961, Ser. No. 98,085 4 Claims. (Cl. 45-28) The present invention is an improved and highly attractive soap dish.

An object of the present invention is to provide a soap dish which .does not permit water to accumulate in any part of the interior thereof, prevents soap scum and soap acids, as well as drainage water, from contacting and scarring the wall in which the soap dish is recessed, and is easy to clean.

Another object of the invention is to provide a single piece soap dish of the type which is adapted to be recessed in a wall structure, which is completely impervious to soap and chemicals, simple to manufacture, and the body of which is characterized by the complete absence of soldered or brazed joints, or screws between any part thereof and the recessed wall structure.

The foregoing objects and others which will appear from a reading of the specification are achieved, in accordance with the invention, by a soap dish having a housing all interior corners of which are rounded and have curves of relatively large size radii to enable easy cleaning and to discourage soap from sticking therein. The housing is provided with a front frame. The bottom wall of the soap dish slopes forward and downwardly to insure easy drainage, and prevents the accumulation of water Within the housing. A downwardly sloping lip extends across the entire front edge of the downwardly sloping bottom wall and outwards from the frame so as to constitute a smooth continuation of the bottom wall of the dish. This construction insures water run-off and prevents soap scum, soap acids, and drainage water from contacting and scarring the wall structure into which the soap dish is recessed. A plurality of raised, parallel, horizontally arranged ridges on the forwardly sloping bottom wall serve as a rest for a cake or bar of soap within the housing.

The soap dish of the invention in made of a material Which is impervious to soap acids and chemicals. According to one embodiment of the invention, the dish is made from highly polished stainless steel which never wears out. The housing is stamped out of a single fiat metallic 20 gauge sheet material by means of a die and a suitable press. The ridges are stamped out of the forwardly sloping bottom wall. Aluminum is avoided in the manufacture of the soap dish because this material becomes pitted with use and blackens. Brass, either alone or coated with chromium, is also avoided because these materials wear and erode under the action of acids and cleaning compounds. A difiiculty with a ceramic material is that it stains and is subject to breakage. According to another embodiment of the invention, the soap dish is made from a plastic resin material suitably moulded to include the features of the invention.

A more detailed description of the invention follows, in conjunction with a drawing, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a soap dish in accordance with one embodiment of the invention of the type which is adapted to be recessed in a wall structure, as seen looking into the interior thereof;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the dish of FIG. 1 taken along the line 22 on the center of one of the raised ridges; and

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the invention.

Throughout the figures of the drawing, the same parts are designated by the same reference numerals.

The soap dish of the invention comprises a housing 10 secured as an integral part to a front frame 12 the marginal edges 14 of which are tapered. The interior four corners 16 of the housing are rounded on equal curves of relatively large radii to encourage water and soap run-01f and to enable very easy cleaning of the interior of the housing. The entire bottom wall 18 which terminates at the front frame 12 slopes forward and downwardly for water drainage, thereby preventing water from accumulating in the interior of the soap dish. Across the entire front of the downwardly sloping forward wall 18 and joined thereto to form a smooth continuation thereof and extending out from the frame 12 there is a lip 20 which also slopes forward and downwardly to carry the water and soap run-ofi away from the front frame 12 and the wall structure into which the dish is adapted to be recessed. Lip 20 curves up and forward at its ends 13, as shown.

The bottom wall 18 is provided with a plurality of rounded raised ridges 22 the uppermost surfaces of which are horizontal and parallel and on which the soap cake or bar can rest and not slide off. Because the bottom wall slopes forward for Water run-off, the rear portion of each ridge 22 is not raised as much as the front portion of the ridge in order to achieve the horizontal positioning of the soap cake or bar on the ridges.

The back surface of the front frame 12 is designed to rest against the wall structure, not shown, into which the soap dish is recessed. Anchoring devices 24 are provided on the four walls of the housing in back of the frame 12 to enable mortar or cement placed around the housing and behind the from frame 12 to hold firmly the soap dish in the wall structure without the need for screws or other devices to secure the dish firmly within the wall structure.

The soap dish is made of a material which is smooth, impervious to soap acid and chemicals in the soap and water, and which will effectively resist wear and tear and erosion under the action of cleaning compounds. For this reason, such materials as aluminum, brass, chromium and ceramics are preferably avoided.

One embodiment of the invention as shown in FIG. 1 has been made out of stainless steel. In the manufacture of this embodiment, the housing was stamped out of a single flat sheet by a die under the pressure of a press. The stainless steel lip 20 was pre-cut and provided with a flange 26 at the bottom so as to overlap the lower portion of the front frame for support purposes. This pre-cut lip was joined to the outside edge of the sloping bottom wall 18 by spot welding and the unfilled space between the lip and the bottom wall filled with epoxy or stainless steel solder which was polished to provide a smooth forward sloping transition between the wall 18 and the lip 20, thereby insuring water run-01f and preventing the accumulation of soap scum. The flange 26 is normally concealed from the view of the beholder by the lip 20. In this embodiment, the stainless steel anchoring devices 24 on the exterior of the housing were spot welded to all four side walls behind the front frame 12. The stainless steel soap dish was highly polished to form an attractive, sanitary, integral construction which required no screws to secure the soap dish to the recessed wall structure or parts of the dish to one another. The absence of holes, screws, or irregular surfaces in the interior of the housing prevents the accumulation of soap deposits.

Where the soap dish is made of a plastic resin, it is made by the use of suitable molds in a manner well known to those engaged in the plastic and molding industry.

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of the invention which can be used on a sink or such other place where a soap dish is likely to be kept. It is not designed as a permanent wall fixture and, hence, lacks the top wall and the anchoring devices 24 of FIG. 1. The side walls of the soap dish are much shorter than the corresponding walls of the dish of FIG. 1 and may be of the order of /1 to 1 inch high, by way of example. These side walls may be straight, as shown, or curve outwardly. The soap dish of FIG. 3 is provided with the downwardly and forward sloping bottom wall 18, the lip 20 which forms a smooth continuation of the bottom wall 18 and which also slopes forward and downwardly to carry the Water and soap run-off away from the dish, and the parallel ridges 22 whose uppermost surfaces are horizontal and on which the soap cake can rest above the bottom wall 18 and not slide off. The two interior corners 116 of the dish of FIG. 3 are rounded on equal curves of large radii to encourage water and soap run-off in the same manner as the rounded curves of the soap dish of FIG. 1. If desired, four spaced legs 26 may be provided at the bottom of the soap dish in order to raise the dish above the sink or other place on which it may rest such that the front lip does not rest on the sink. As an alternative construction, the soap dish may have only two legs at the back of the dish and on which the bottom wall rests. The bottom of the front lip will then act as a rest for the soap dish instead of the two front legs. The dish, for example, may be three inches wide and four and onehalf inches long and made from a molded synthetic resin, such as bakelite or any other plastic resin, or from molded rubber.

I claim:

1. A soap dish of the type adapted to be recessed in a wall structure, comprising a housing and a flat front frame integrally secured to said housing to constitute a single piece and being made of a stainless steel material which is impervious to soap acids and will not erode under the action of cleaning compounds, said housing having top, bottom and interior smooth walls, the bottom wall of said housing behind said front frame sloping forward and downwardly to insure free drainage of water from said housing, and a lip curving up at its ends extending forward and downwardly over the entire width of and smoothly joined to the front edge of said bottom wall at the location of said frame and extending out from said front frame, and a plurality of raised, spaced ridges on the bottom wall arranged parallel to one another and to lines extending from the rear to the front of said soap dish, the top surfaces of said ridges being horizontal from substantially one end to the other.

2. A soap dish of the type adapted to be recessed in a wall structure, comprising a housing and a fiat front frame integrally secured to said housing to constitute a single piece, said housing having three side walls, a top wall and a bottom wall, all of the interior corners of said dish being rounded and having relatively large size curves, the bottom wall of said housing behind said frame sloping forward and downwardly over its entire width to insure free drainage of water from said housing, the entire interior surface area of the side walls being smooth from top wall to bottom wall and devoid of holes, said top and bottom walls also being devoid of holes, and a plurality of raised, spaced ridges on the bottom wall arranged parallel with one another and to lines extending from the rear to the front of said dish, the top surfaces of said ridges being horizontal from substantially one end to the other, and a, lip curving up at its ends extending forward and downwardly over the entire width of and smoothly joined to the front edge of said bottom wall and extending out from saidfront frame, said housing, frame, walls, ridges and lip being integrally joined together to form a single piece soap dish.

3. A soap dish comprising three side walls and a bottom wall formed as a single integral piece, said dish having rounded interior corners, the bottom wall sloping forward and downwardly over its entire width to insure free drainage of water from said dish, said bottom wall having on the upper surface thereof a plurality of raised, spaced ridges arranged parallel to one another and to lines extending from the rear to the front of said soap dish, the top surfaces of said ridges being horizontal from substantially one end to the other, and a lip curving up at its ends extending forward and downwardly over the width of and smootly joined to the front edge of said bottom wall, said lip extending out from and integrally secured to the front edge of said bottom wall over the entire width thereof.

4. A soap dish of the type adapted to be recessed in a wall structure, comprising a housing and a flat front frame integrally secured to said housing to constitute a single piece, said housing having three side flat walls, a top flat wall and a bottom wall, all of the interior corners of said dish being rounded and having relatively large size curves, the bottom wall of said housing behind said frame sloping forward and downwardly over its entire width to insure free drainage of water from said housing, the entire interior surface area of the side walls being smooth from top wall to bottom wall and devoid of holes, said top and bottom walls also being devoid of holes and a plurality of raised, spaced ridges on the bottom wall arranged parallel with one another and to lines extending from the rear to the front of said dish, the top surfaces of said ridges from substantially one end to the other being horizontal, and a lip curving up at its ends extending forward and downwardly over the entire width of and smoothly joined to the front edge of said bottom wall and extending out from said front frame, said housing, frame, walls, ridges and lip being made of a metallic material which is impervious to soap acids and which will not wear and erode under the action of cleaning compounds and integrally joined together to form a single piece soap dish, and anchoring devices in the form of flanges secured to the exterior surfaces of all of said walls behind said frame.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS D. 104,359 Smith May 4, 1937 D. 130,579 Dreyfuss Dec. 2, 1941 1,224,838 Blissman et al. a- May 1, 1917 1,267,353 Baker May 28, 1918 1,536,906 Miller May 5, 1925 2,399,533 Albright Apr. 30, 1946 2,577,011 Hallenscheid Dec. 4, 1951 2,896,363 Litzaw July 28, 1959 

